Loading...
Environmental impact of our products
More and more customers ask critical questions about the environmental impact of our products and processes. And we welcome that! Most questions are about CO² emissions, or the ‘carbon footprint’. CO² is the most common greenhouse gas, and its increase in the atmosphere is largely responsible for global warming. In addition, more and more questions are being asked about possible alternatives to traditional plastic (PP) packaging, recyclability and material origin.
Scientific approach (LCA)
Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) is a scientific method to determine the environmental impact of a product or service ‘from cradle to grave’. In this cycle, processes take place with different environmental effects. LCA provides an insight into these environmental effects. So you can see where and what environmental effects occur. In a comparative LCA, this gives you a method to compare products based on their environmental impact.
Dillewijn Zwapak uses the LCA method to assess the sustainability of its products. The LCA results that we use are eco-costs and CO² footprint. For this, we make use of publicly available data (industry standards). We base this on a ‘cradle to gate’ instead of a 'cradle to grave' approach, because the use and disposal phases of our products differ strongly by customer and user and we have no direct influence on that.
Eco-cost
At the moment, Dillewijn Zwapak is mapping the so-called eco-cost of (almost) its entire range via LCA calculations. The calculation method of this eco-cost was developed by the Delft University of Technology. In turn, the method makes use of publicly verifiable sources where the data is collected and updated through a standardised method (ISO 14040).
What are eco-costs?
• Eco-costs are the costs that you would have to make to eliminate or avoid the environmental impact.
• Eco-costs are a way of expressing environmental impact in a single indicator
• Eco-costs are expressed in euros (€)
• Eco-costs are virtual costs (i.e. costs that are not (yet) integrated into our normal life)
• Based on LCA (Life Cycle Analysis)
CO² footprint
The Dutch government has set out in its climate agreement how the Netherlands will implement the Paris Climate Agreement. In the Climate Agreement, 195 countries, including the Netherlands, agreed to limit the rise in average global temperatures to well below 2 degrees Celsius by 2050, and if possible by 1.5 degrees Celsius. The main greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide (CO²). That is why we focus mainly on reducing CO² emissions in the air. To determine the impact of our products on the environment, we determine the CO² emissions. We use the above method to do this.